Benoit B. Mandelbrot (1924–2010), the mathematician who coined the term “fractal,” revolutionized the way we understand complexity in nature. His groundbreaking work introduced the concept of self-similar patterns—structures that repeat at varying scales—which appear in phenomena as diverse as coastlines, clouds, and market fluctuations. Fractals provide a mathematical framework for describing irregular shapes and dynamic systems, making them invaluable for tackling problems where traditional linear approaches fall short. Building on Mandelbrot’s groundbreaking work, the application of fractals in engineering reveals exciting possibilities for gear design.
Liebherr’s components product segment and mtex antenna technology joined forces in 2023 to provide the antennas for the next generation Very Large Array antennas (ngVLA), which will offer a glimpse into the infinite space reach.
I have been to many IMTS and EMO shows over my fifty years in the industry; yet the 2024 show proved to be a thrilling and confusing event that left me tired and looking forward to a future that will surpass even my meager manufacturing dreams. At the first manufacturing technology show I attended (even before McCormick Place was built), I was in my early twenties and gobsmacked by the huge milling machines with tool changers that were operated by tape drives—no CNC for the old school. Well, the 2024 show proved to be deep in the new school.
During a recent conference session on AI and manufacturing in Las Vegas, one presenter made a valid point about simplifying and accelerating shop floor processes. “AI has the potential to revolutionize the way companies design, develop, manufacture and operate.” This is happening in gear manufacturing shops, automotive OEMs, production plants—even mining facilities.
The 10,000-Year Clock, also known as the Clock of the Long Now, is a visionary project aimed at fostering long-term thinking and responsibility. Located inside a mountain in West Texas on land owned by Jeff Bezos, this clock is designed to keep accurate time for 10,000 years, serving as a powerful symbol of longevity and sustainability.
Engineers Assemble. If you’re a product engineer in charge of designing the latest and greatest manufacturing creations, it’s officially “Tony Stark” time. If Philip K. Dick is more your speed over the Marvel Cinematic Universe, than how about “Tom Cruise” time in Minority Report? Siemens and Sony recently introduced a solution that combines the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio with Sony’s new XR head-mounted display (HMD), SRH-S1—designed using Siemens’ own NX software—insert chicken vs. egg debate here.
A gear is nothing without its counterparts. Gears work in conjunction with other components within a gear system to achieve specific mechanical functions. These counterparts work together synergistically to form functional gear assemblies capable of transmitting motion and torque, converting speed and torque ratios, and performing a wide range of mechanical tasks in various applications across industries.
Pi Day took place on March 14, 2024. Our friendly neighborhood constant is used in engineering to determine the dimensions of gears, wheels, and pipes. Pi is also used in computer science to generate random numbers for cryptography, simulation, and gaming. With a tip of the cap to math enthusiasts, we offer a quick cheat sheet to pi and its fascinating history.
Gear Technology regularly covers machine tools, often referred to as “mother machines” due to their role in producing other machines, which serve as the cornerstone of industrial civilization by cutting or shaping metal. Think of all the gears in the machine tools that not only cut and polish gears but are indispensable for manufacturing a wide range of goods, with nearly every product being created either directly using machine tools or through machines manufactured using these tools.
I grew up playing video games in the 1980s/1990s. Today, my kids not only play video games, but could discuss coding, designing, and marketing at length on their YouTube channel. This generation is growing up with technology no other generation has ever had.
Three Degrees of Freedom: Notes on an active ball joint mechanism based on spherical gear meshing.
We came across an interesting statistic recently in our normal product coverage for Gear Technology magazine. United Grinding had more than 2,500 remote deployments during the pandemic. Digital assistance systems—big and small—helped machine operators navigate production output in real time during this chaotic work period.
Gear Technology readers know diesel—because of the fuel’s properties, such as viscosity, lubricity, and combustion characteristics—can influence the design considerations for gears within the diesel engine. What our readers might not know is on September 30, 1913, The New York Times led with a headline that Rudolf Diesel—multimillionaire inventor of the diesel engine and international superstar in the scientific community—had disappeared from the passenger steamship, Dresden, crossing from Belgium to England and was presumed dead.
Next year, farmers in Colorado will be able to fix their own tractors, and manufacturers will have to provide them with resources to help them do it. In late April, Colorado became the first state to ensure farmers can work on their own equipment with Governor Jared Polis signing “The Consumer Right to Repair Agriculture Equipment Act,” which forces manufacturers to make available the necessary manuals, tools, parts, and software to farmers who rely on complex and expensive machinery, such as tractors, combines, and other farm equipment.
Where there’s war, there’s a combat engineer (sapper) waiting in the wings to construct fortifications, build strategic roads or blow up enemy fortresses. For as long as humanity has been fighting, engineers have risked their own lives carrying out vital tasks on the battlefield.
Player Piano serves as a cautionary tale and remains relevant in the age of automation as it addresses the issues of technological progress and the impact of replacing human labor and the resulting loss of purpose and meaning in life. It highlights the consequences of relying too heavily on machines and the need to find a balance between progress and preserving the human spirit. The novel remains relevant as discussions around the future of work, job loss due to automation, and the ethics of artificial intelligence continue to be important topics in today’s society.
Trade show swag. It’s everywhere on the show floor—chocolates, plastic toys, T-shirts, free popcorn. As a frequent attendee to manufacturing and engineering events, most industrial professionals would agree we don’t need additional fountain pens. If you really want to grab attention at your trade show booth, why not offer beer?
With our zeitgeist of presentism—the judging of the past through the lens of current standards—it’s refreshing if not essential to know the past was not entirely without figures who not only exceeded the standards of their time but even those of today. At a time when women’s suffrage was in its nascency, Catherine “Kate” Anselm Gleason (1865–1933) helped stage what would become the Gleason Corporation in the global cutting tools industry as a sales engineer for her family’s gear-cutting machinery business.
The mere mention of artificial intelligence (AI) often conjures one dystopian vision or another—perhaps the prime example of all is the HAL 9000 going spectacularly awry in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The prospect of the widespread adoption of AI is understandably alarming to people in a host of ways, but be that as it may, various forms of it are already a central part of how things are done—from finance to health care, from heavy machinery to retail—and the reason for this is simple: AI allows computers to do things people can’t unassisted, and by pairing algorithmic accuracy with automation, this helps save valuable time and resources. However, as AI and other control mechanisms affecting systems grow increasingly sophisticated, the human link to these processes becomes critical.
Noncircular gears are not a mere mathematical curiosity with limited practical utility. They were first sketched by Leonardo da Vinci around 1500 and have since found their way into a variety of useful applications. In the 18th century, noncircular gears were used in flow pumps, clocks, music boxes, toys, and other devices. Early publications on the gear type in the 19th century by Hamnet Holditch (1842), Henry T. Brown (1871), and Franz Reuleaux (1875) helped evolve the field of kinematics. First introduced by Uno Ollson in his book Non-Circular Bevel Gear in 1959, the noncircular bevel gear has remained obscure due to the complex geometry. Even though more and more publications are available on noncircular gears, the knowledge is, especially compared to cylindrical gears, still very limited. But in the last decade, there has been an increased interest in the field of noncircular gears due to certain advantages they have over circular gears.
When it comes to noise, vibration and harshness (NVH), I’m reminded of that dog-van scene from Dumb and Dumber where Jim Carrey says, “Want to hear the most annoying sound in the world?” and then proceeds to emit an astonishingly awful noise. Annoying as NVH may be, it’s a key metric in drive-system development for e-mobility, and the careful design and manufacture of gears are crucial to minimizing NVH as tolerance variations can result in large differences between nominally identical components.
It's nice to have claim to fame. "We're probably the world's foremost authority on making gears out of ice," says Jeff Root of Virtual Engineering, Plymouth, MI.
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